After all the tur
moil USC faced this off-season, you’d think winning the first game of a new era would be a good thing, but after the Trojans gave up 588 yards in their 49-36 win over Hawaii, new head coach Lane Kiffin wasn’t too happy.
“I was really disappointed with everything in general,” he said after the game.
Hold on there, Coach; it wasn’t all that bad.
The offense, under starting quarterback Matt Barkley, looked surprisingly sharp considering it was the first game of the season. After a flag and a whistle before even snapping the ball, the Trojans put together a scoring drive on their first possession thanks to a series of short-yardage runs by tailback Mark Tyler that set up a 46 yard touchdown pass to David Ausberry.
Then Kiffin, interestingly, decided to go for two but Ausberry, whose lack of production threw the starting job to true freshman Robert Woods, couldn’t handle the pass from back-up QB Mitch Mustain.
The Trojans got the point back on the next possession, when Barkley connected with Ronald Johnson on a one-yard bootleg pass into the end zone and again on the two-point conversion.
Most of the Trojan drives had the same look – hard running by Tyler, Allen Bradford and C.J. Gable and plenty of time for Barkley to make crisp, consistent passes. Former coach Pete Carroll praised Barkley’s poise as a true freshman last season, but he just looked more in command last night, tying a USC record for touchdowns in a game (5). His timing, especially with Johnson, who will likely become his go-to guy, was spot-on, and his throws, like a 22-yard laser to tight end Rhett Ellison, were hard and accurate.
The offensive unit, as a whole, looked great; the biggest issue last night was how quickly it was scoring. An eight-play, 56 yard drive in 1:44? It looked great, but it just put the weak defense back out on the field.
The defense’s lack of game experience and lack of tackling due to injury concerns was a question mark throughout the preseason, and the answers the Trojans got in last night’s game weren’t the ones they wanted.
The defense, which has essentially shot itself in the foot with penalties over the last couple seasons, had ten against Hawaii, including a roughing the passer by Jurrell Casey that drew the ire of the coach just before halftime.
Coverage and tackling were just bad. Nikell Robey, the first true freshman cornerback to start an opener at USC, was often assigned to cover Hawaii’s leading receiver a year ago, Greg Salas, and was clearly outplayed. The safeties and corners couldn’t keep up with Hawaii’s receiving corps, but tackling was an issue even if they could’ve caught up. They just couldn’t bring guys down.
Hawaii starting quarterback Bryant Moniz would’ve been even more successful exploiting the USC secondary if his receivers hadn’t dropped balls that hit them right in the chest. There were at least four dropped passes that would’ve been major plays, if not scores.
Moniz also made plays with his feet, keeping drives alive by scrambling out of the pocket. The Trojans have had problems with mobile quarterbacks in the past, and Moniz got important yardage more than once by taking off as the play collapsed.
The Trojans’ biggest defensive play of the game took Moniz out of it entirely, when Michael Morgan leveled him with what looked like an illegal blow to the head. It didn’t help the defense’s cause though, as Hawaii’s third-stringer Shane Austin, likely the new #2 after last night’s performance, found Kealoha Pilares for 65 and 30 yard passes for touchdowns.
It remains to be seen how the Trojans will hold up against a team with a prolific offense AND a solid defense – USC’s offensive performance last night was helped in part by a Hawaii defense not much better than theirs – but it’s clear that while it was good to finally get back out on the field and get a win, there’s a lot of work to be done if the Trojans want to keep winning.
